UH gets $23 million for science education

The National Science Foundation is awarding $23 million to the University of Hawaii to help build research and science education here, the university said in a news release.

The two grants were made through the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research.

The first grant is a five-year, $20 million Research Infrastructure Improvement cooperative agreement that will look at how invasive species, human activity and climate change affect biodiversity and ecosystems here and in other tropical environments.

The second grant is a $3 million, three-year grant to the University of Hawaii and the University of Alaska to develop a Pacific Area Climate Monitoring and Analysis Network that will improve understanding of the impacts of climate change on freshwater resources.

The $20 million grant is the third Research Infrastructure Improvement grant received by UH and is part of a broader effort to build research capacity, expand science, technology engineering and math education, and diversify the economy of the state by creating new high-tech industries that require a work force that can be trained and educated in Hawaii.

The research involves a wide range of sophisticated sensors from sea level to the Mauna Kea summit and from the main Hawaiian to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Researchers will also help develop high-performance computing models and new 3-D visualization systems.

Participating institutions include the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Kapiolani Community College and Chaminade University.